


Lyle's Vashti Sidequest 2 (Part 2)

by emcapi



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, RP, Romulans, USS Tribble Threat, Vashti - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29922771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emcapi/pseuds/emcapi
Summary: After learning some surprising information about their heritage, Lyle returns to Vashti to bring their new friend, Tori, up to speed.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: USS Tribble Threat





	Lyle's Vashti Sidequest 2 (Part 2)

Lyle’s been trying to find Tori for almost half an hour – at least they had the idea of dressing in some nondescript civilian clothes not unlike the ones they’d seen the Vashti residents wearing, otherwise it probably would have taken even longer if they had stuck with the uniform. It’s a strangely different experience walking down the streets knowing for certain that this place is *theirs*, in a way. 

Finally, someone’s directed them to her house, and Lyle at least knows to go around to the back door to knock. It opens, and Mirok grins at them.

“Hey, brat,” Lyle says, ruffling his hair before he can duck away. “Do you know where Tori is? I gotta talk to her about something.”

“I’m in here,” a familiar voice calls from beyond the doorway. “Get in here, kid, you’re letting all the dust in.” Lyle snorts and steps inside, door sliding shut behind them as they blink, eyes adjusting to the dimmer lighting. They’re in a cozy little dining room, with a few art prints on the wall and mismatched chairs around a heavy wooden table that shows obvious signs of use and abuse. Judging by the small pile of parts off to one side, it seems to occasionally double as a workbench.

Mirok scoots back around the table to sit in one of the chairs, picking up some of the components from the pile that he’d clearly been fiddling with before Lyle turned up. Lyle’s debating whether to tell him that doing the wiring like that will give him a bit of a shock, or to let him learn by experience, when Tori comes through a doorway with a faded floral-print curtain covering it. “Good to see you again,” she chirps, before looking at Mirok’s project and commenting, “That’s not gonna work so well, buddy.”

“It’ll work,” Mirok insists, before plugging in a final connection – and, as Lyle predicted, getting a mild shock. “Agh!”

“I didn’t say it wouldn’t work, I said it wouldn’t work *well,*” Tori says, amused. “Anyways- what brings you here, Lyle? You got news for me, I’m guessing?”

“Yup,” Lyle replies, beaming. “You were totally right about the gene thing.”

“Aw, no way!” she exclaims. “Congratulations, kid! Did you get the sequence data? Pass it here, I called in a favor to borrow this from the clinic, I wanna see if I get to be Auntie Tori.” She wiggles a tricorder-like piece of equipment. Lyle hands over the resulting data chip, which she plugs in. Fortunately, testing for ‘blood relation’ with sequence data saved to a chip runs a lot faster than starting from scratch and doing a full sequence and analysis, but it still takes a few minutes to process.

In the meantime, Tori sits down at the table, and motions Lyle to do the same. “I heard your scientists got the crop problem fixed?” she asks.

“Yeah – there was some sort of virus attacking the beneficial bacteria that put nitrogen back into the soil. I think they got an enzyme to kill the viruses. Also I swear I heard someone talking about engineering the bacteria to straight up *eat* the viruses for more long-term management which is cool as hell. At any rate, you guys should start seeing results pretty soon. I thought I saw a new sprout or two on my way over, but that might have just been my imagination.”

“Good, good,” Tori says, nodding. “That’s gonna make a world of difference around here, if you couldn’t tell.” She laughs. “Too bad I probably won’t be around to see the results – Kimara and I applied for a resettlement grant, so we’re packing up and moving to Bajor pretty soon. There’s a small Romulan refugee community there. Not nearly as big as this one, obviously, it’s more like a neighborhood, but it’s much more stable, and there’s a Federation-accredited school nearby for this little smartass.” She leans over to attempt to ruffle Mirok’s hair, but this time he manages to dodge away, sticking out his tongue.

Lyle has had a feeling that they’re missing something, but it’s just now that it clicks. “Wait, where’s Gaius?” they ask, worried.

Tori and Mirok share a look before Tori turns back to explain. “Actually – he really wanted to stay here. Get to know his people, help rebuild, instead of going to Bajor. The governor offered to adopt him and we agreed. I know him, he’s a great guy, honestly has everyone’s best interests at heart. Not something you’d guess for a Romulan politician, huh?” She laughs. “At any rate – I think it’ll be just as much of an education for him as going to a Fed school will be for Mirok, and of course we’ll try and arrange for the boys to visit in person once in a while, and not just over holo-comms.”

Lyle nods in understanding. “I didn’t get to know Gaius as well, but I hope he’ll be happy here. I can definitely see his point of view, I kind of wish we could stick around and do more, but you know how it is – new worlds to explore, new life to discover, new diplomats to play taxi for.” Tori laughs.

“Speaking of discovering life, why isn’t this stupid thing done yet.” Tori glares at the sequencer before giving it a sharp smack, which it responds to by beeping. “*There* we go – eyyy!” She jumps up and sticks her head back through the curtained doorway, bellowing, “GUESS WHAT!”

“WHAAT?” comes a second, more distant voice.

“YOU OWE ME TWENTY CREDITS AND A DRINK!” Tori hollers.

Lyle hears a set of footsteps come down unseen stairs, and Tori pulls her head back through the doorway as a second woman comes through, taller and with her hair cut in a more traditional Romulan style. “Lyle, meet my wife Kimara – Kimara, meet Vellar’s adorable little bastard spawn.”

“So you’re saying-” Lyle starts, standing up and accidentally pushing the chair back with a *screech* in their haste, at the same time as Kimara says “I owe you no such thing, I learned about the twins over a week ago.”

Tori turns to Lyle. “First of all, yes,” before turning back to her wife. “Second of all, they came on the same ship, it’s at least a tie.”

Kimara sighs. “Fine, we can both buy each other drinks. Preferably on Bajor – I’m pretty sure the tavern here has been adding fruit juice to the ale to stretch it out.” Lyle and Tori make identical faces of disgust. “I can see the resemblance,” Kimara comments dryly.

Lyle sits back down as Tori pops the data chips out of the sequencer, putting Lyle’s back in front of them. “So, your dad’s my brother- hang on- I mean, your brother’s my dad?” Lyle asks excitedly.

“Looks like it!” Tori agrees. “I can give you his contact information – I’d try and help you arrange some kind of meeting, but obviously you have diplomats to transport,” she says jokingly, “and he’s actually off the grid right now. He’s also an engineer, but unlike those of us who appreciate having a planet under our feet, he takes contract gigs on privately owned starships. A lot of them are… ehh… less than above-board, so he typically goes dark when he’s on one of those – I wouldn’t worry too much about whether he’s okay, though, that man is irritatingly good at survival. He’s been off-grid for a few months now, and I’m not sure when he’ll turn back up, but I promise I’ll let you know when he does. In addition to lording it over him that I knew about his kid before he did, since he was too busy off doing Elements-know-what.” She rolls her eyes.

“That would be *great*,” Lyle enthuses, before coming to a realization, and turning to face the youngest person at the table with a wicked grin on their face. “Hey, Mirok, guess what that means.”

“What?” Mirok asks with a suspicious frown.

“We’re *cousins* now. Which means you’re *never getting rid of me.*” Lyle grins very smugly at Mirok, who wails “Nooooooooo,” in half-joking despair.

Lyle sticks around for another couple of hours, getting to know their unexpected new family, hearing a few stories of Vellar being – as Tori described it – “annoyingly good at survival,” and leaving with comm numbers, promises to stay in touch, and a small, traditional dagger Tori and Kimara insisted they take with them as ‘a necessity for any self-respecting Romulan (or part-Romulan).’ When they beam back up to the ship, they do so with a curious feeling of being whole.


End file.
